Stone Cold promo

Legend

I believe this promo to be the quintessential Austin promo from the Attitude era. It is the night after Austin won the 97 Rumble leading to the match w/ Bret at Mania

Everything about this promo is perfect to me. It is only like 2 minutes long, but holy shit... he is just so damn believable in this role. He makes every word count instead of dancing around the point. Maybe I'm tripping but I love this promo, just venomous

Legend

Technically SCSA was still the heel and hart was a face. They did a double turn at WM.

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Yep. It is semantics really, but you could argue both were "tweeners" heading into Mania since Hart had shown heel tendencies leading to his turn and Austin the same thing leading to his face turn. I love in this promo when the crowd starts to get on Austin's side and he steps back and gives a harsh "Shuyut up" directed toward them. I think Austin was struggling a bit to keep some heat on him as he became more and more popular nobody wanted to boo him.

Legend

Yep. It is semantics really, but you could argue both were "tweeners" heading into Mania since Hart had shown heel tendencies leading to his turn and Austin the same thing leading to his face turn. I love in this promo when the crowd starts to get on Austin's side and he steps back and gives a harsh "Shuyut up" directed toward them. I think Austin was struggling a bit to keep some heat on him as he became more and more popular nobody wanted to boo him.

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He didn't Ashely want to be a face at all. He was legit upset at not getting booed. He explains it on one of those network shows. Monday night wars or the McMahon/Austin rivalry.

This was good indeed. Believe they didn't script things back then? What a coincidence that it was good.

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And it's surely one of the reasons Austin is so much opposed to scripting promos, and has been ever since they started doing it beginning back around 2002/2003. He knows first-hand what kind of magic can happen when you just hand a guy a mic and let him come up with the material himself. The infamous Austin 3:16 promo that he cut at KOTR '96 was also all thought up by Austin himself on the spot.

Legend

And it's surely one of the reasons Austin is so much opposed to scripting promos, and has been ever since they started doing it beginning back around 2002/2003. He knows first-hand what kind of magic can happen when you just hand a guy a mic and let him come up with the material himself. The infamous Austin 3:16 promo that he cut at KOTR '96 was also all thought up by Austin himself on the spot.

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Absolutely. It makes promos sound much more corny sometimes, also less lively. It's never as good when you have to remember a script. It also makes the promos longer than they have to be very often.

Commissioner

I had a very weird time with Steve Austin when he went to WWF. I actually became a fan of Austin when he was a member of the Hollywood Blondes in WCW. The Blondes, actually, are still one of my favorite tag teams in history. He had an amazing US title feud with Ricky Steamboat and I went around telling everyone that Steve Austin was going to be the next Ric Flair. He was the best young technician and the most charismatic.

So, along comes the Ringmaster, one of the stupidest gimmicks ever. When they remade Austin with the "Stone Cold" gimmick, I was conflicted. He completely changed his look and personality from the Ringmaster, but he didn't change it back to "Stunning" Steve Austin, which is what I wanted. I continued to cheer for him, but I wasn't completely sold on the "Stone Cold" gimmick. When they placed Austin in the Bret Hart feud, I thought that this was just going to be an attempt to bury him and shoo him out of the WWF.

The promo you posted was the one that made me think differently. I don't think it's the best Austin promo, that would be this (

). But your promo is the one where I not only realized that the "Stone Cold" gimmick was superior to the "Stunning" Steve Austin character, but I KNEW that this man was finally getting his due and was not going to be buried.

Legend

I had a very weird time with Steve Austin when he went to WWF. I actually became a fan of Austin when he was a member of the Hollywood Blondes in WCW. The Blondes, actually, are still one of my favorite tag teams in history. He had an amazing US title feud with Ricky Steamboat and I went around telling everyone that Steve Austin was going to be the next Ric Flair. He was the best young technician and the most charismatic.

So, along comes the Ringmaster, one of the stupidest gimmicks ever. When they remade Austin with the "Stone Cold" gimmick, I was conflicted. He completely changed his look and personality from the Ringmaster, but he didn't change it back to "Stunning" Steve Austin, which is what I wanted. I continued to cheer for him, but I wasn't completely sold on the "Stone Cold" gimmick. When they placed Austin in the Bret Hart feud, I thought that this was just going to be an attempt to bury him and shoo him out of the WWF.

The promo you posted was the one that made me think differently. I don't think it's the best Austin promo, that would be this (

). But your promo is the one where I not only realized that the "Stone Cold" gimmick was superior to the "Stunning" Steve Austin character, but I KNEW that this man was finally getting his due and was not going to be buried.

A truly spectacular promo.

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The brilliance of Paul Heyman at its best. I agree that promo you posted is probably Austin's best, and how could it not be? He didn't even have to act, just give him a live mic and let him shoot/vent. Of course the result was magic!

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